Brian Stokes Mitchell, of Kiss Me, Kate, will pursue the life that late he led Jan. 18-27, when he takes a vacation from the hit Broadway musical.

Brian Stokes Mitchell, of Kiss Me, Kate, will pursue the life that late he led Jan. 18-27, when he takes a vacation from the hit Broadway musical.

During Mitchell's respite, Merwin Foard, who stepped in for Mitchell for several performances recently when flu struck the company, will play egomaniacal actor-director Fred Graham to Marin Mazzie's Lilli Vanessi.

Foard, a veteran of Broadway's 1776, Jekyll & Hyde, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, and many tours and regional stagings, is the standby for both Mitchell and Ron Holgate, who plays Mazzie's other love interest, Harrison Howell.